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sexual harassment allegation

Good day to everyone. I would like to first thank everyone and pinoylawyer.org.

I have been complained by my student. Here is the complaint po,

To whom it may concern,

I have been a student in (academy) since (date).i had an individual class with T. ( me) from 15:00 to 16:00. We decided to study about reading, speaking, and pronunciation by using materials. Although i understand that he has good skill to teach enlish, i have some complains about teacher ( me). since the 2nd or 3rd days of my first week(this complaint is on the 9th day), he has tried to touch my body parts such as my face, hands and arms frequently. For example, while he was teaching pronunciation, he touched my jaw and said, "can i touch your lips?"Additionally, even though i didn't ask him to teach the sexual words and idioms, he often taught me these kinds of things in class. He also asked me not to tell others. So after this matter, I got so stress that I do not want to attend his class anymore. I came here to learn English not to get stress. Please consider this matter seriously.

I was given a notice to explain. Today im writing it.

To whom it may concern, I have been given a notice to explain in writing my position about the incident. First of all, I am not writing to explain but rather to deny and defend myself.

I had an individual class with student (her) since (date).I had been teaching this student professionally. There had been no unwelcomed physical contact between me and the student. There had been only 3 situations of physical contact , which are not considered unwelcomed physical contact.

First physical contact: on the first day, it is a common courtesy to shake hands when meeting For the first time to show respect.

Second physical contact: a high five between me and the student. This was an acknowledgement that the student was getting the lesson well.

Third physical contact: once during a pronunciation class: The student couldn’t pronounce /ɑ/ as in long small, on, bond and caught. So I asked her to drop her jaw; she wasn’t dropping her jaw enough, so I asked her if I could feel her condyle, a part of the jaw near the ears, it’s supposed to move away from the ear and make a space or a hole if the jaw is dropped enough. The permission was to avoid any unwelcomed physical contact. The student said yes, so I touched the condyle with the tip of my index and middle finger with the other fingers folded. Then we went on to the pronunciation drill. While doing the drill, I noticed that she still had a problem pronouncing the vowel sound. The difficulty was not only caused by not dropping the jaw enough, but also her lips were rounded and tensed. The tense made it difficult for her to pronounce it. So I asked her to remove the tense, but she couldn’t get it. I pointed (no physical contact) at her Philtrum , the central groove between the nose and the upper lips, because this is where it is easy to see the tense, but she didn’t get it. So I asked her if I could touch it ( “it” was referring to her philtrum not her lips) with the tip of my index finger, however, she said no. After that, I just asked her to feel it herself and notice the tense, but she didn’t notice it. Then we just carried out the drill without fixing that difficulty.

On the second day of the class, we used the Impact Values Book. We used the first topic which had the title “Pierced”.

PiercedWarm up1. What do you think of piercing? 2. Do you have any piercings? Would you like to get some?

SituationPhil is talking with his friend Brian. Phil is unhappy with his girlfriend, Michelle. Why is he unhappy?

Brian: So, how’s Michelle? You guys are still going out together? Phil: Yeah, we are, but , I don’t’ know. It’s actually getting kind of weird. Im not sure it’s going to last.Brian: Are you serous? Man, you’ve got to find a way to make it last. Michelle is awesome! She’s got everything. Phi: Yeah, she is great. Really energetic – Brian: yeah!Phil: And fun to be with, and .. But, this is going to sound stupid. Brian: What? Phil: It’s her piercings. Brian: Yeah, so what about them? Phil: Well, first she got her nose pierced. Brian: Cool. Phil: And then her belly button. Brian: Her belly button? Wow. I didn’t know she did that. Phil: I guess that was okay. Brian: Yeah!Phil: But then she went and got her tongue pierced. I don’t know if I can deal with it. Brian: Tongue piercing? Have you kissed her yet? Phil: Yeah. I did kiss her!Brian: Cool, huh? Phil: It was disgusting!Brian: Disgusting? Phil: It felt dirty! And now ever time I think about it I just start wondering what part of her body she’s going to pierced next. Brian: Well, have you told her how you feel about it? Phil: Yeah, I tried. Brian: And? Phil: I asked her if she could stop wearing some of them, at least when we were together. Brian: What did she say about that? Phil: She said it was her right to express herself. You know, she said something like, “Look, you can’t control the way I look. You should accept me the way I am. I was like, what? Brian: I don’t know man, I think you just don’t get it. You can’t let a few pieces of metal get between you and the woman of your dreams. Phil: Well, I don’t know if she’s the woman of my dreams anymore. Brian: What? Phil: Besides, now ever time when we get together she tells me how I’d look with pierced ears. It’s bad enough that she’s getting pierced. Now she wants me to do it too?Brian: Why not, man? It’s no big deal. And, you know, if it turns Michelle on…Phil: I can’t believe you agree with her. Brian: Totally. Phil: I don’t know what I’m going to do. Brian: You’re going to get a piercing , man.

I first used the warm up questions to get the student ready with the topic. Then I asked her to listen to the dialogue. After listening to the dialogue I asked her to read the script. We then answered the comprehension question. After answering the questions, I started discussing the following phrases:

Going out together = dating; meeting; seeing each otherKind of weird = a little strangeMake something last = make something continueDeal with something = to handle ; manage ; solve a problemTurn somebody on = to sexually stimulate someone ( I was avoiding saying this definition and tried to use other examples, I said , if you saw a man with good muscles, how would you feel? The student said “ahhhh!” Then I said,” yes that’s what Turn sby on mean. “

The phrase Turn somebody on had it’s meaning in the book itself, it’s found on the last pages of the book.

After I explained the said phrase, the student even made her own example sentences, the examples are as follows: I’m turned on by men’s sharp eyesI’m turned on by white teeth.

The student didn’t show any sign of any uncomfortable feeling. And finally, I can say that that was the last touchy idiom she has heard in my class.

The student has misinterpreted everything; if she thought so, it means she was preoccupied by a prejudice. She has misjudged me. Apparently, there is a spreading rumor about me; some people in the academy have said that I was dangerous. I am a victim of rumor mongering.

I’d like to appeal to the HR office to consider the confidentiality of this matter. I was shocked when one teacher told another teacher about an incident I had years ago, information that I believed that only the HR office only know about. With these things being said, I have decided to trace who started defaming me with rumors with or without the HR's help.

I also would like to question the credibility of the troubleshooting done in our branch. The troubleshooting done was one sided. How come when students complain about other teachers, they do troubleshooting in the branch, and this time, mine was directly escalated without consulting my side.

maraming maraming salamat po. I only have 2 days left to pass this letter.